Garage-style doors separate the Skyline Lounge from the large deck, which overlooks the river and downtown St. Paul. The lounge has the usual party room accoutrements, such as a large television, pool table, kitchen, bar, gas fireplace, sound system and contemporary furniture. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

Property description: The colorful, new West Side Flats apartment building, which anchors a parcel east of the Wabasha Bridge on St. Paul’s West Side, represents the first housing built in several years on the city’s banks of the Mississippi River.

The U-shaped West Side Flats embraces the color wheel in a big way, with different sections painted blue, purple-red, white and off-white. Perhaps the highlight of the five-story building is the top floor “Skyline Lounge” with garage doors that open onto an outdoor patio offering a spectacular view of downtown St. Paul.

Other common areas in the $31 million development, which offer 36 affordable units, are a ground-floor lobby and a small indoor swimming pool next to a fitness center. The slanted-roof pool area has a striking circular window facing the river and garage doors opening to a patio with seating and a grill.

A handful of first-floor units have walk-out patios, and decks are available in a select number of upper-floor apartments. Tenants can park free outdoors in 65 stalls or pay $100 a month in the 131-space garage. Bus stops and bike trails are nearby.

Tenant mix: The 178 units include 24 studios from 495 to 518 square feet; one-bedrooms from 646 to 750 square feet, and two-bedrooms from 940 to 1,310 square feet. All units have stainless appliances, carpeted and finished floors, and maple or mahogany kitchen cabinets.

Intriguing tidbits: Seven years ago developer Jerry Trooien bet his career on a $1 billion West Side development. After the controversial plan died in 2007, the housing market crashed and put a damper on riverfront and downtown development.

As the apartment market took off, Minneapolis-based Sherman Associates found $23.5 million in financing in 2012 from the Washington, D.C.-based AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust to help build the project.

West Side Flats is attracting “a lot of people who work downtown,” said Laura Fitzgibbons, senior leasing specialist. “They like the location, the amazing downtown views and being able to walk to work.”

See below for a slideshow of West Side Flats by F&C staff photographer Bill Klotz: